Who the hell is Sarah Palin?
It’s official. John McCain has picked Sarah Palin to be his Dick Cheney. So now the main question is: Who the hell is Sarah Palin???
Well, Sarah Palin is the 44 year old second year Governor of Alaska. Prior to becoming Governor she was on the city council and later the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (pop. 8,471).
On the national stage, Palin is best known for her position on… well, nothing really. Ontheissues.org has many of her positions listed as “no issue stance yet recorded”.
It’s hard to understand McCain’s thinking here. McCain’s camp has been running with a non-stop message of readiness and experience. Now they are pitting Palin against Joe Freakin’ Biden, a man who was first elected to Senate when she was only 8.
One thought would be that McCain is trying to woo away Hillary Clinton supporters by putting a woman on the ballot. Palin indicated as much in her speech today by referencing Hillary Clinton and the “18 million cracks” in the glass cieling. Honestly, this just seams silly. Sure, she is the first female governor in Alaska’s long 49 year history. But did they even watch the convention? Senator Clinton gave a passionate endorsement of Obama in what was arguably the best speech of her career! Frankly, this all has the stink of tokenism. If I were a die-hard Hillary supporter who was considering voting McCain, I think I’d just be offended.
Another possible justification would be that McCain is trying to steal a little bit of Obama’s youth and hopeitude® by picking a young, energetic VP to balance the fact that he is old, tired and probably going to die soon. Personally I think this just serves to highlight his shortcomings.
Finally, is it me or does McCain Palin sound like some kind of rare disease?
Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
UPDATE: Ben here. I just talked to my parents who are pretty open to McCain, and they were appalled by the choice. I feel better. My mom was appalled because “I thought he was an independent? He picks a far right winger … a pro-life, anti-gay woman with no experience just a heartbeat from the Presidency?” Go big Sherry! My dad was appalled for less egalitarian reasons. “Her husband is a fucking eskimo! An eskimo! He didn’t even go to college. What are we going to have a White House full of eskimos who didn’t go to college?” Ummm. Fine. Point being my parents are people I was concerned might have been swayed by the pick; maybe Big Sherry and Chris are a sign of the zeitgeist?
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Do you remember that episode of Mama’s Family where they make Mama the mayor?
why not me! im not qualified either?
i guess this is yet another response to the celebrity meme, since nobody has ever heard of her
isnt she the woman who spoke before Barney Smith last night?
I will write more about this soon, but don’t you think its a little condescending to imply that supporting Palin is the same as supporting Hillary? Hillary Clinton is a freakin’ Senator and a Yale Law School grad. Palin has a fucking bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho!
This choice troubles me. It lets McCain wear the mask of being pro-equality — but I’m certain that the choice will be used in a way that feeds on the worst sexist instincts in this country and its media. Palin is relatively inexperienced, female, attractive, and young. If Biden or Obama rip into her, in a debate, in a speech, in an ad, they look like monsters. Sexist programming will not allow them to use the same tough honesty when it comes to her. It’s sad, it’s disgusting, and so, I’m confident that’s what’s going through the McCain campaign’s collective mind. She de-claws the attack dog. If it looks like Biden is being cruel to her, every chauvinist/backward-thinker, both male and female, will turn against him. And then the McCain camp will say people are upset because Obama was attacking her BECAUSE she was a woman. This country (and its media) disgusted me in its confused treatment of Hillary’s toughness, and made me want to die even worse in its ridiculous response to her getting weepy. So, excuse me if I’m just cynical enough to, I don’t know, believe that McCain has something in mind besides giving women equal footing.
It is certainly possible that someone who isn’t a Senator or a graduate of Yale Law School is as useful and smart as someone who is, it’s just that Palin is not that person. She’s a reactionary whose ideas are as tired and wrinkly as McCain.
The media will love her.
Read up and open your mind……
Jim, thanks for the link (click his name). You may notice that my article cites this heavily. Please, for the love of god, go to the Wikipedia page and read about this person!
“In May 2008, Palin objected to the decision of Dirk Kempthorne, the Republican United States Secretary of the Interior, to list polar bears as an endangered species. She filed a lawsuit to stop the listing amid fears that it would hurt oil and gas development in the bears’ habitat off Alaska’s northern and northwestern coasts. She said the move to list the bears was premature and was not the appropriate management tool for their welfare.[43]
She believes that “a changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state” but she would not “attribute it to being man-made”
umm, her hometown newspapers say she is totally unqualified.
There was only one reason the beauty queen was chosen as McBush’s vp: The Republicans wanted to steal the thunder from the powerful Democratic convention and return attention to their ticket. Palin gets everyone animated and removes our focus even more from the issues. The Republicans can’t win on issues, only on fear of change and oil (which are really the same thing). The best thing for the Democrats to do is to ignore this silly choice and get on with the campaign. Sarah Palin can then return to the sticks, hunt wolves, kill polar bears, and snowmobile!
I’m with Carly on this one-I’m a woman, too! I mean, I wouldn’t have accepted, of course, since i hate his guts, but he could have at least asked. AND I might have voted for him, but not now. This is an insult to all American women, especially Hillary supporters. I think they have more sense than to want just any woman in office. Joe Biden has done alot more for women than this bimbo has or ever will.